Midtown Lunch

After my out–of-control delicious tongue taco experience in San Francisco a few weeks ago, I was ready to get back on the lengua train here in Midtown.  Easiest place for that? The El Rey del Sabor cart.  If you haven’t been yet (there are now three of them in Midtown), what the hell are you waiting for? There’s one on 60th and 3rd Ave., 49th and 3rd, and 43rd and 6th.  I decided to hit up the one on 49th, because it gets the least amount of love! (And yet the highfalutin, more expensive Pampano Taqueria across the street, is a mob scene. Figures.)

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I’ve always liked the tasty (but admittedly inconsistent) steam table lunch options at Bayan Cafe, Midtown’s only Filipino restaurant (on 45th btw. 2+3rd).  But if Chubby Chinese Girl is to be believed, you’ll want to avoid their version of sizig, a traditional Filipino dish of sizzling, chopped up pig parts (which appears to be heavy on the ears at Bayan Cafe.)  A few things are for sure, the B.C. steam table is best if you get there early, they don’t always have the best dishes (which could be related to the first thing), and there are far better options in Queens. Sadly, we don’t work in Queens!

Related:
Bayan Cafe… Filipino Food Worth Breaking the Rules For
Lunch’er Report: Is Bayan Cafe Still Good?

It brings me great pleasure to pass along the news that the Trini Paki Boys chicken and rice cart finally passed its inspection this week, and is back on the SE corner of 43rd St. and 6th Ave.  Every two years carts have to renew their permits, and there was a hold up on their renewal this go around- forcing them to use a loaner cart for the past two weeks.  To celebrate they’ve decided to start selling their biriyani every single day from now on.  The only thing that will change from day to day is the meat… today- it’s goat!

Related:
The Hidden Delicious Mysteries of the Trini-Paki Boys Cart

Whoa!?!  How did we miss this one? Fork in the Road posted an interview today with the owners of The Black Shack, and brand new burger joint that just opened on Lex btw. 37+38th. They‘re using LaFreida beef, serve sweet potato fries, and their menu [PDF] is about as cheap as you’re going to find anywhere in Midtown. I’ve never been to Burger 67, the Fort Greene burger place with the same owners, but Nick Solares sounded like a fan when he wrote about it on A Hamburger Today (although he did say if they ever came to Manhattan “it would likely be lost in the shuffle, given the stiff competition it would face.”)  www.blackshackburger.com

I know where I’m eating tomorrow…

Photo courtesy of Fork in the Road.

My lord… the line for Gourmet 53’s $3 lunch today is even crazier than I expected! Basically the beginning and end of the line were practically at the same place (wrapping around the entire food court!) As promised there is free coconut shrimp. (In fact, right before I left I cut the line, snagged a coconut shrimp, and took off. The lady handing ’em out seemed pretty pissed. Oh well!)

UPDATE: The owner just checked in to let us know that by 1:30pm they were out of coconut shrimp. You have until 3pm…

Midtown Lunch has always prided itself on finding “hidden” gems in our part of the city (after all, you don’t need a blog to tell you where the nearest Cafe Metro is.)  And there are some truly hidden treasures, none more so than the spots that operate out of freight elevator hallways. The most famous one is El Sabroso, the Dominican/Peruvian 6 seater inside the freight hallway on 37th btw. 7+8th.  But there’s also Nick’s Place (on 39th btw. 7+8th), and of course Pick a Pita made a name for themselves in a hallway on 38th btw. 7+8th, before moving out into the open on 8th Avenue.

There’s something fun, and slightly subversive, about eating in a hallway beneath a building, dodging giant dollies full of lord knows what, as you navigate the bustling hallway to get to your lunch.  So, when I read in the ML forums that there was another one of these places on 37th btw. 8+9th, I wasted no time.

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